Estara swallowed slowly while gripping her teddy bear to her very tightly, as she considered what the vision had shown her. She was shaking as she finally managed to meet the Fortuneteller’s eyes. “W-... was that really… me?”

“Yes,” the Fortuneteller said softly, dropping the epicness of her voice — temporarily — to borrow more from Sammy. “More or less. It is merely a potential future, now a bit sunken due to your preemptive absorption, thereby altering reality from this point and making it exceptionally unlikely to turn out the same. But it was certainly a close version of you.”

“I-I see…” She blinked and looked down at the table, lost in thought.

The Fortunteller rose and walked over, as Estara’s chair suddenly grew out sideways to become wider. She sat in it and put her arm around the priestess, hugging her. Estara rather quickly adjusted to lay her head on the offered bosom, curling into the contact, while still squeezing her stuffed animal.

“Y-you won’t tell anyone,” Estara asked suddenly, “will you? About… this. You know. I-I’m not a baby or anything…”

“Of course not, dear,” the Fortuneteller murmured in motherly placation, then kissed the top of her head. “Of course you aren’t.”

A bit of soft muttering under Estara’s breath indicated she was likely reviewing the abilities. After a while, she sighed. “I really have to put on the big girl clothes now, don’t I? These capabilities are a serious responsibility. Deadly, potentially nasty… and then that vision shows how its unique value means I have to make tough choices. Do unsavory things that no one else can.”

“I won’t mince words: yes. It is your destiny as my daughter. You always have the most difficulty with your role. You don’t like sending someone to the end, aren’t ever okay with diminishing life, whereas the one after you sees it the same as chopping wood. The one before you just doesn’t have to deal with it at all, generally.”

“Could you explain what you mean? What do they do, who are they?”

“That is not for me to say. You will meet them in time. And… Samantha… likely has figured out a little of the pattern to discuss.” A teensy amount. I can’t remember much about the Fates of Greek myth or whatever. Or… anything about the Norns. Gah.

“Ah…”

“Would you like to return, now, Estara?”

The girl squirmed slightly. “Um, well… C-could I be here a little longer?”

The Fortuneteller smiled and patted her shoulder. “Of course, dear.”

Estara didn’t move for a while, almost meditative in her breaths as she laid her head on the breast of the Fortuneteller and was held. She closed her eyes, though she didn’t quite fall asleep.

After some indeterminate matter of time, she finally sighed and lifted her head. After a small, somewhat embarrassed smile, she detached from the Fortuneteller except for a hand, one cheek red from where it was pressed down. “Okay, I’m ready. Thanks for everything… Mother.”

“You’re welcome, Daughter. Know that we are always there for you, from here on, to the very end.”

Estara grinned and nodded, eyes dropping. She gave a last squeeze of her eternal mother’s hand, then let it go to stand and walk away… though she kept the teddy bear.

With a final shake of her head, the Fortuneteller dismissed her from the premises…

Whoa. I’m still here? Weird. Ooh! Are you going to thank me for letting you spend time with Estara?!

“No. Let me? Ha! Hmm. You weren’t too annoying about it, at least. Regardless, I delay only to tell you not to set our daughters directly against the incarnation of our enemy. They are best on the backlines and in third-wave sort of endeavors.

“Unless you dangle them like a prize, he should ignore them. As instrumental as they are for the engine of progress, they won’t make a sliver of difference in a direct conflict, merely end up a source of woe. With Him in particular, that is.”

The Entropy guy actually has principles? Could’ve fucking fooled me.

“This is pock-marked with gaps to explain to you, but suffice to say it has to do with his nature in this format. He just won’t likely bother with them.”

Didn’t Azure’s prior Calrenazzod incarnation torture and presumably kill his wife or something like that? I have difficulty believing he can be trusted not to-

“Don’t trust him — I’m telling you not to draw his attention to our precious daughters! And certainly don’t reveal Her connection, either. Delay the Mirrors connection as long as possible, and it should be obvious you’re not the same being when the truth is out. I’m sure you can guess he wouldn’t be a bed of roses to you, but revenge won’t even be in his stratosphere.

“I will tell you what to trust: that you know not a sliver of a sliver of what is happening! Trust us to know best. Now then. Back you go.”

Wait-

 

✦•············•✦•···········•✦

 

“Wait, don’t just-!” Sammy found herself back in the real world half risen onto her knees, and — naturally — the Fortuneteller was gone.

Gah! It never fails with her.

Her eyes fell upon Estara, who was watching her curiously. The Daughter of Fate smiled faintly, uncertainly. “Y-... you’re you now, right?”

Sammy, with some effort and a deep breath, settled down. “Yeah. Mere Sam Sam once more.”

“Oh! Good! That was… really something. I feel like I’m more me again, too. It was like some… old me had just woken up from a long sleep. So… you, ah… you’re not going to… um… completely turn into her over time… are you?”

Sammy blinked at her. “What? No! She’s… well, it’s complicated! The opposite might be closer. She’s more of a potential version of many many lives put together, from the past and future. In this world, we’re trying to collectively improve the future, basically. Everyone’s on board and the FT is a representation of our consensus. Or that is… close enough.”

Estara nodded along in understanding, then smiled again, brightly this time. “I’m glad to hear we keep Sam Sam. I mean, Fate Mom is-is rad… and kind of scary, too… but rad! Just… like a different person. I wouldn’t want to lose you. Or her!”

Laughing, Sammy scooched over to be side-by-side and put her arm around Estara. “You won’t, lil’ darlin’, you won’t.”

Estara giggled. “Now you sound like Dax!”

Changing her voice with her illusory powers, Sammy mimicked Dax, breaking a little as she went, “Now you listen here, Lassie — I’ll hear none o’ that! I’m my own woman and I only wear pants! Ya wouldn’t catch me dead in this!”

They both cracked up from it, Estara managing to squeak, “It’s so true!”

After a while, Sammy cleared her throat and said, “I need to make you a nice staff. Preferably one with some kick-ass defensive benefits. And I will hear not a single word about it ‘not being necessary’ or whatever, missy! You’re going to get gifted! Okay?! And it has nothing to do with the Fortuneteller giving you a teddy bear.”

Estara looked at her in shock. “Wha-? But I wouldn’t even think that if you hadn’t-”

Sammy pointed a firm finger dead at Estara’s nose, stopping her short and briefly making the girl go cross-eyed staring at that fingertip's focal point. “Nothing… to do with it. Okay, then, now that we’re clear… let’s see what we can come up with…”

The Major magical item was similar to what she had for her [Bound] item in power level: One Major enchantment, one minor, automatic +1 ELs for use, and a durability increase. She found what she wanted for Major almost immediately…

That’s a metric shitton of bonuses! Perfect for a support-focused lady like her to hold her own without becoming a ‘tank cleric’ or whatever.

She perused the Minor options looking for non-combat options, and found a quite handy, if simple option that was for accessories but also for certain weapons:

Can help out pretty nicely, I think.

Sammy tinkered with the look of the item and the final touches. For a special effect, she made it synthesize with the holy symbol Estara had, lending the weapon’s durability to it and also making it detachable.

“Alright,” Sammy said as it was ready, “let’s do this, priestess and soon-to-be High Priestess.”

Standing up along with Estara, she targeted her with the item creation effect and activated it, first enshrouding her with light, then causing it to concentrate and condense into the holy symbol, which grew itself a silver and ivory staff with inset diamonds, the holy symbol becoming a large top piece. Two silver wings flared up from the pole to flank the disk on the edges.

Gesturing dramatically with a hand, Sammy proclaimed, “I have named it… Shelter of Tomorrow.”

Estara gasped at its beauty, running her hands over it with a sparkle in her eyes. Finally, she held it up high in the air under the sunshine, and it caught the light. “Her people shall be so protected, and so protected, their courage shall be magnified! We will carry that torch forever onward, knowing her as the high idol of our own potential. May we be the Shelter of the world, as she has sheltered us.”

Sammy smiled proudly. “Nicely said! I think you’ve come to understand what I’d like to inspire better than I do, free of the limited borders to my own faith.”

The staff came back down, planting and thrumming as if in echo to once upon a time when another important member of the order did the same with a declaration. Estara shook her head and replied, “Not so, Goddess! It simply transcends the mind of a mortal, as you once were. She’s only separate from you in as much as what we are capable of is separate from us. We are no different, and what comes from our mouths is our hope for more as we embrace it.”

The young girl newly minted to new wisdom from beyond smiled brightly. “We work toward that freedom of truth! To transcend the System, end this broken chaos, and attain paradise! Don’t you think?”

Sammy, shocked by the girl’s mix of intuitive understanding and boundless innocence, blinked at her for a moment. Then she slowly nodded, crossing her arms in front of her and looking up at the sun. Directly into it, as it could not hurt her. It was a beautiful disk free of glare. “I do in fact hope so, child…”

From the past, the precursor stared like a husk of memory, a faint shadow, and from the future, the bitter amalgamate glared with glinting eyes, and Sammy understood the moment as one of universal alignment.

I am the Light of Progress that never stops ticking forward. I do not tire, I do not give in, I do not give up. All you can do is delay me. Topple my tower and scatter my founding stones or watch me build again, or again, or again. Fail once and see me build it to heaven…

And then you lose. “... I really do.”